Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Travel: Lennon Wall in Prague

All you need is love… The John Lennon Wall in Prague is a wall with a storied history In a city filled with stunningly beautiful monuments, a Gothic bridge of much atmospheric antiquity, a languid river, a sprawling Palace complex, the John Lennon Wall is a bit of an anomaly. But there is…

Book review: The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay

An unexpectedly nuanced look at Kashmir from down south Madhuri Vijay’s first novel is a beautifully nuanced tale in these times of no nuance. The author dunks us deep into the family scrum of the protagonist, 30-year-old Shalini, and we are hooked. Scrum it is, because beneath the 30-year-old woman’s laconic account of her…

Book review: Upon a Sleepless Isle by Andrew Fidel Fernando

Sweet and hot sambol As I ate a vegetable-stuffed roti sitting on the rock, an East Asian couple spotted me and became transfixed, in the way safari-goers might upon seeing rare wildlife. At first they viewed and photographed me from a safe distance, wary, perhaps, of sending me scurrying into the bushes. They then inched…

Feature: The Thorth Turns haute!

The Malayali towel’s 15 minutes of fame. Kerala’s ubiquitous, uber-thin towels get an amazing upgrade, much to the bemusement of Malayalis around the world What can I say? It’s like your old blush-pink velour pyjamas are suddenly trending like mad on every It list. Quintessentially Malayali, the thorth is simple, sans fuss, low-key as hell…

Book review: Under Something of a Cloud by Dom Moraes

Just finished Under Something of a Cloud, (Speaking Tiger Books), a collection of travel essays from the fluid pen of the late Dom Moraes. These were the words that had me reaching out for my dictionary; some I knew but wanted to check their meaning once again: Appurtenances. Assever. Anfractuous. Enfiladed (by mist). Their hirpling…

Book Review: Raavan by Amish

Insidious villain And now, the origin story for Raavan. Unlike in the lacklustre telling of Ram`s story in Ramachandra, Scion of Ishkvaku, and Sita`s tale which, apart from the big reveal, was a pretty straight affair, Amish gives his Raavan enough of an edgy personality so as to make him an interesting protagonist. Picking up…

Feature: The biker chick who is not!

The happiness of a long-distance biker Yoga teacher Sangeetha Jairam rides off into the yonder in her spare time. “I’m no biker chick,” Sangeetha Jairam says firmly. “I am more of an adventure-traveller; my motorcycle is something of a companion-teacher, who has taught, and continues to teach me, a lot about life.” Biker chick or…

Book review: The Book Ninja by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus

The Book Ninja by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus. Simon and Schuster Books UK. Such a fun read! Okay, so comparisons are odious but think Bridget Jones in Oz. However, a Bridge who`s got her shit together a bit more, is prettier, less scatty but equally wacky, equally witty. And a lot more well-read. This…

Feature: The Tea-times of Childhood

Remembrance of teatimes past Looking back at 4 pm food memories It is a truth universally acknowledged, that young persons forced to spend a whole hot and humid month in their `native place,` will be forever restless, forever hungry. Back in the Eighties, our large brood of siblings and cousins were no different when…

Book review: The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin by Manu S Pillai

History in sixty takes An absorbing collation of historical tales from across India Manu S Pillai, our desi Dalrymple, gives us another round of Indian history, this time in a collection of essays touching upon one interesting character after another, some well-known, some not, one or two quite obscure. The book is a compilation of…